Ten Tips for Training Your Perfect Team

June 16, 2008


asdamd/photos/stylus/30123-Training-250x175.jpg

Photo by iStockphotos

If you've got new employees, resist the urge to throw them to the wolves on day one. Take the time to properly and patiently train them, instead. When you do, your new team members will emerge more loyal, more passionate and more productive.

By: MATT ALDERTON

Ken Wisnefski started VendorSeek, his virtual business-to-vendor matchmaking service, in his basement in 2002. Since then, the Mt. Laurel, N.J.-based company has hired dozens of employees. In fact, it now has more than 40 of them. As a result, the company now has onboarding—as the process of recruiting, hiring, orienting and integrating new employees is sometimes called—down to a T.

"For some time we almost did an information overload type of process and people got lost in all the small details," Wisnefski says. "We then tried to strip down our orientation and people seemed too green."

Somewhere in the middle, the company found what it says is the perfect compromise between teaching new employees to do their jobs and letting them actually do them. "We like to train employees and gradually have them begin to take the reigns," Wisnefski says. "There is no substitute for 'live' training, but throwing them to the wolves can be counterproductive. We try to find a happy medium."

While the happy medium is the holy grail of new employee training, there are many, many different ways to successfully integrate a new member into one's team. The important thing, experts urge, is that they are integrated.

"Think of employees as a major purchase decision," says employee training expert Bob Kustka, past president of the Human Resources Council and current president of Fusion Factor, his Norwell, Mass.-based human resources consultancy. "If you'd just bought a new piece of equipment, you wouldn't want it to sit outside in the rain. So, you just got a new employee; would you want him to flounder on his own?"

Without some type of organized, strategic training, Kustka says, "flounder" is exactly what new employees will do. If you want them to flourish, instead, you've got to start them off on the right foot. That is, you've got to give them on day one the tools they need in order to succeed on day two, day three and beyond. Here's 10 expert tips for doing just that.

1. Hire what you're not willing to teach. When it comes to new employee training, small business owners should distinguish between "day one" skills and "professional" skills, according to Brad Kolar, partner with the Aslan Group, a Champaign, Ill.-based management consultancy. The former are job-specific skills—such as HTML skills for a Web designer or financial fluency for an accountant—that a new employee should bring with her to your company; they're the things that you hired her for and that she should already be able to do well on her first day. The latter, meanwhile, are general skills that can be taught and developed over time, such as communication, leadership and presentation skills. "Any skill that is critical to delivering your product or service and is not unique to your company should be hired," Kolar says. "Other skills can be learned over time."

2. Don't train employees; develop them. "I don't like the word 'training,'" Kustka says. "I like to use the word 'development.'" The difference between the two, he stresses, is scope. While training suggests an isolated activity—such as learning to operate the espresso machine at Starbucks—development implies broader and more strategic learning. It's equal parts studying and doing. "People learn best when they are on the ground, trying things, and even making mistakes," Kolar adds. "Some things don't make sense to new people until they've had a chance to experience them." Training is instruction and development is experience; one is always more effective than the other.

3. Consider the little things. It's often the smallest details—like where the bathroom is and what time everyone arrives at the office in the morning—that are overlooked on a new employee's first day. It's also the smallest details that tend to make the biggest impact on employee integration. "Have their business cards ready, their e-mail up and running, their PC working, their desk cleaned—whatever they're going to need," Kustka says. "That stuff is very important." Equally important, he adds, is giving them strategic information, like relevant department data, and organizational information, like who's who in the company and who does what. Be careful not to overwhelm employees, though, Kolar cautions. "People can only remember seven, plus or minus two, things," he says. "Therefore, if you have more than nine basic things, there is a good chance that they'll forget them."

4. Keep the history lesson short. Like many small business owners, Wisnefski feels it's important to educate his employees about the history of where they work. "I am proud to tell people the business started in my basement and show them how far we have come," he says. Even so, Kolar urges business owners to keep the storytelling in check. "People aren't going to buy in to your past," he says. "They weren't there. They will buy in to your future. I'd rather see a company spend more time on where it is going and how the new employee can help it get there than on where it's been."

5. Value skills over knowledge. "Training should always be focused on what people need to do rather than what people need to know," Kolar says. "Very few jobs involve reciting facts for your customers. Most jobs require making decisions, taking actions, overcoming barriers and managing trade-offs. That's what any training should focus on." Kustka agrees and says that training should focus on core competencies—what skills your employees need to successfully do their job—above all else. "Train for what's going to make your business better," he says.

6. Set goals. Training shouldn't just be about what you need your new employees to accomplish for you. It should also be about what they want to accomplish for themselves. Kustka therefore recommends making it a priority to integrate new employees with a conversation about their jobs. "You need to have an agreement between you and the employee," he says. A big obstacle to successful training is miscommunication; everyone will appreciate it if you and the employees are on the same page right away when it comes to what their jobs are, what your expectations are and how their performance will be evaluated; don't assume that you and your new hires are operating on the same wavelength.

7. Break barriers. Successful training includes educating new employees about potential challenges within the company and giving them resources for overcoming them. "Training new employees isn't important," Kolar says. "What is important is removing any obstacles that will prevent them from effectively delivering your product or service." Try to prevent surprises, Kustka adds. "Ask yourself, 'What could they come up against that might be a barrier?'" he says. "Give them the inside scoop on the organization."

8. Remember that timing is everything. For employees, a new job is like a new car, according to Kustka. "You just can't wait to get in and drive it," he says, adding that companies have a unique opportunity to engage new hires in the first 90 days, while they're still excited about their new gig. "Those early days are where you can make a great impression, get buy-in and get them excited about what your company does." Still, Kolar cautions, don't rush anything, as training and development are ongoing processes. "Companies have cyclical events that don't conveniently fall in the first weeks of someone's job," he points out. "You need to be mindful of what your people are experiencing for the first time when they are experiencing it and continue orienting them until they are through all of those 'first times.'"

9. Save some trees. While some training collateral is helpful—things like reference materials, directories, flow charts and checklists—most information is best delivered orally to new hires. "Collateral can be helpful," Kustka says, "but when people go into a meeting and get a 4-inch binder, they go back and put it on their shelf. But what you said to them in that meeting might actually stick with them." At the same time, giving long lectures might not be the best use of everyone's time, Kolar points out. "My general rule of thumb is that if someone can read something and it makes sense, let them read it outside the classroom. If they can't make sense of it, then have a presenter."

10. Be involved. Finally, in order for new employee training to be effective, small business owners must be involved in it. "It's really about relationships," Kustka says; if an employee can't develop a relationship with his employer—if the student can't consider her a teacher—then learning is futile. That's why Wisnefski involves himself in all employee training sessions. "It is very important for me to be part of a new person's training and orientation," he says. "I feel smaller companies are at an advantage in relation to the training process because the owners can be visible and a large part of the occasion."


Ten Tips for Training Your Perfect Team

June 16, 2008


asdamd/photos/stylus/30123-Training-250x175.jpg

If you've got new employees, resist the urge to throw them to the wolves on day one. Take the time to properly and patiently train them, instead. When you do, your new team members will emerge more loyal, more passionate and more productive.

By: MATT ALDERTON

Ken Wisnefski started VendorSeek, his virtual business-to-vendor matchmaking service, in his basement in 2002. Since then, the Mt. Laurel, N.J.-based company has hired dozens of employees. In fact, it now has more than 40 of them. As a result, the company now has onboarding—as the process of recruiting, hiring, orienting and integrating new employees is sometimes called—down to a T.

"For some time we almost did an information overload type of process and people got lost in all the small details," Wisnefski says. "We then tried to strip down our orientation and people seemed too green."

Somewhere in the middle, the company found what it says is the perfect compromise between teaching new employees to do their jobs and letting them actually do them. "We like to train employees and gradually have them begin to take the reigns," Wisnefski says. "There is no substitute for 'live' training, but throwing them to the wolves can be counterproductive. We try to find a happy medium."

While the happy medium is the holy grail of new employee training, there are many, many different ways to successfully integrate a new member into one's team. The important thing, experts urge, is that they are integrated.

"Think of employees as a major purchase decision," says employee training expert Bob Kustka, past president of the Human Resources Council and current president of Fusion Factor, his Norwell, Mass.-based human resources consultancy. "If you'd just bought a new piece of equipment, you wouldn't want it to sit outside in the rain. So, you just got a new employee; would you want him to flounder on his own?"

Without some type of organized, strategic training, Kustka says, "flounder" is exactly what new employees will do. If you want them to flourish, instead, you've got to start them off on the right foot. That is, you've got to give them on day one the tools they need in order to succeed on day two, day three and beyond. Here's 10 expert tips for doing just that.

1. Hire what you're not willing to teach. When it comes to new employee training, small business owners should distinguish between "day one" skills and "professional" skills, according to Brad Kolar, partner with the Aslan Group, a Champaign, Ill.-based management consultancy. The former are job-specific skills—such as HTML skills for a Web designer or financial fluency for an accountant—that a new employee should bring with her to your company; they're the things that you hired her for and that she should already be able to do well on her first day. The latter, meanwhile, are general skills that can be taught and developed over time, such as communication, leadership and presentation skills. "Any skill that is critical to delivering your product or service and is not unique to your company should be hired," Kolar says. "Other skills can be learned over time."

2. Don't train employees; develop them. "I don't like the word 'training,'" Kustka says. "I like to use the word 'development.'" The difference between the two, he stresses, is scope. While training suggests an isolated activity—such as learning to operate the espresso machine at Starbucks—development implies broader and more strategic learning. It's equal parts studying and doing. "People learn best when they are on the ground, trying things, and even making mistakes," Kolar adds. "Some things don't make sense to new people until they've had a chance to experience them." Training is instruction and development is experience; one is always more effective than the other.

3. Consider the little things. It's often the smallest details—like where the bathroom is and what time everyone arrives at the office in the morning—that are overlooked on a new employee's first day. It's also the smallest details that tend to make the biggest impact on employee integration. "Have their business cards ready, their e-mail up and running, their PC working, their desk cleaned—whatever they're going to need," Kustka says. "That stuff is very important." Equally important, he adds, is giving them strategic information, like relevant department data, and organizational information, like who's who in the company and who does what. Be careful not to overwhelm employees, though, Kolar cautions. "People can only remember seven, plus or minus two, things," he says. "Therefore, if you have more than nine basic things, there is a good chance that they'll forget them."

4. Keep the history lesson short. Like many small business owners, Wisnefski feels it's important to educate his employees about the history of where they work. "I am proud to tell people the business started in my basement and show them how far we have come," he says. Even so, Kolar urges business owners to keep the storytelling in check. "People aren't going to buy in to your past," he says. "They weren't there. They will buy in to your future. I'd rather see a company spend more time on where it is going and how the new employee can help it get there than on where it's been."

5. Value skills over knowledge. "Training should always be focused on what people need to do rather than what people need to know," Kolar says. "Very few jobs involve reciting facts for your customers. Most jobs require making decisions, taking actions, overcoming barriers and managing trade-offs. That's what any training should focus on." Kustka agrees and says that training should focus on core competencies—what skills your employees need to successfully do their job—above all else. "Train for what's going to make your business better," he says.

6. Set goals. Training shouldn't just be about what you need your new employees to accomplish for you. It should also be about what they want to accomplish for themselves. Kustka therefore recommends making it a priority to integrate new employees with a conversation about their jobs. "You need to have an agreement between you and the employee," he says. A big obstacle to successful training is miscommunication; everyone will appreciate it if you and the employees are on the same page right away when it comes to what their jobs are, what your expectations are and how their performance will be evaluated; don't assume that you and your new hires are operating on the same wavelength.

7. Break barriers. Successful training includes educating new employees about potential challenges within the company and giving them resources for overcoming them. "Training new employees isn't important," Kolar says. "What is important is removing any obstacles that will prevent them from effectively delivering your product or service." Try to prevent surprises, Kustka adds. "Ask yourself, 'What could they come up against that might be a barrier?'" he says. "Give them the inside scoop on the organization."

8. Remember that timing is everything. For employees, a new job is like a new car, according to Kustka. "You just can't wait to get in and drive it," he says, adding that companies have a unique opportunity to engage new hires in the first 90 days, while they're still excited about their new gig. "Those early days are where you can make a great impression, get buy-in and get them excited about what your company does." Still, Kolar cautions, don't rush anything, as training and development are ongoing processes. "Companies have cyclical events that don't conveniently fall in the first weeks of someone's job," he points out. "You need to be mindful of what your people are experiencing for the first time when they are experiencing it and continue orienting them until they are through all of those 'first times.'"

9. Save some trees. While some training collateral is helpful—things like reference materials, directories, flow charts and checklists—most information is best delivered orally to new hires. "Collateral can be helpful," Kustka says, "but when people go into a meeting and get a 4-inch binder, they go back and put it on their shelf. But what you said to them in that meeting might actually stick with them." At the same time, giving long lectures might not be the best use of everyone's time, Kolar points out. "My general rule of thumb is that if someone can read something and it makes sense, let them read it outside the classroom. If they can't make sense of it, then have a presenter."

10. Be involved. Finally, in order for new employee training to be effective, small business owners must be involved in it. "It's really about relationships," Kustka says; if an employee can't develop a relationship with his employer—if the student can't consider her a teacher—then learning is futile. That's why Wisnefski involves himself in all employee training sessions. "It is very important for me to be part of a new person's training and orientation," he says. "I feel smaller companies are at an advantage in relation to the training process because the owners can be visible and a large part of the occasion."